#Darius Rucker Addresses His Drug Arrest: “Somebody Wanted to Make an Example Out of Me”

Hootie & the Blowfish frontman Darius Rucker says his February drug offense “shocked” him, and that he thinks the ordeal was the result of someone “trying to make an example” out of him.

“I’m handling it with my lawyers, and paying the price, and we’ll move on with our lives,” Rucker told People.

In early February, Rucker was arrested in Tennessee on two counts of simple possession/casual exchange of a controlled substance and one count of a violation of the state’s vehicle registration law. The singer said this week the arrest warrant “shocked me,” and added the charges were in relation to a 2023 incident during which he was pulled over and released without charges.

“It was so awesome,” Rucker said. “I mean, I looked back at that and I was like, ‘I got stopped by a police officer and I had a little bit of pot, and I think a little bit of some mushrooms or something in the car, and he let me go.’ And a year later I got a phone call from a buddy that said, ‘I think I just saw an arrest warrant for you.’ It shocked me.”

In February, TMZ reported he allegedly had expired tags on his car.

Rucker continued this week, “My friends who were in the police department were like, ‘Have you pissed somebody off up here? Because this is crazy that they’re doing this a year later. But I think somebody wanted to make an example out of me, and they did.”

Rucker’s attorney said after the singer’s arrest that he was “fully cooperating with authorities related to misdemeanor charges.”

Last October, Rucker released his first solo album in six years, Carolyn’s Boy. His memoir, Life’s Too Short, is also out now.